Special Thanks to Tommy: George & Gracie’s Landlord

IMPORTANT: Messages from osprey experts

Rob Bierregaard July 1, 2015 at 7:24 am
I haven’t seen the little guy yet this morning, but I would be very surprised if he survived the night. That sure was tough to watch yesterday, but that whole process is as much a part of the essence of being an Osprey as is eating a fish. It’s part of the life of Ospreys that was rarely seen before we started putting cameras in nests. As hard as it is, we should not label the behavior as mean or cruel. Being mean or cruel implies that there is intent to do harm just for harm’s sake. Those young were responding to a set of stimuli (very little food being delivered to the nest and the presence of a very small young) in a way that evolution has hard-wired into them. It helps ensure their survival. Nature is not cruel. It is harsh, unforgiving, and often random (had the little guy been born 1st, he would have been just as aggressive as was his sibling), but not cruel or mean.

Paul Henry ospreyzone July 1, 2015 at 8:17 am
Thanks Rob for bringing your knowledge and experience to help us all gain perspective here. We are all saddened by the events that unfolded before our eyes and it’s only natural for all of us to feel and express our emotions appropriately. There have been many issues pertaining to intervention which have been discussed amongst us all. There is no doubt in my mind that the right decision was made, to let nature take it’s course. By the way, that doesn’t equate to heartless, on the contrary, nobody feels worse about this then the apparent decision makers. I say apparent, because when all was said and done, and all the issues were properly weighed, there really weren’t any other options. It was clearly pointed out, by experts, that intervening at this stage could have spooked the whole nest to the point of losing all the young. If the little one was saved, and nursed back to health, what kind of a life would it have had, perhaps caged up in a zoo. I remember when I was younger I saw a golden eagle in captivity, caged behind a wire mesh. I could practically see it’s tears. As far as placing the little one in another nest, such a low probability of success would never have justified the possibility of spooking the nest. There’s a piece of me, however heavy hearted, that believes that perhaps it is better to be born free and die free. We mourn for the little one as we marvel at the wonders of nature.

Reprinted with the permission of John W. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Hello Paul,

Thanks for your query, and you have my admiration for persevering. We know very well how tough your job is, including dealing with an anxious public.

Our policy with our Bird Cams project is essentially “just say no” to pleas for interference. The behavior you are witnessing – while seemingly cruel and heartless to us – is natural for many kinds of birds, especially those that feed on variable, unpredictable food supplies. The little nestling does have a chance to survive, but if it does not then that result was “meant to be” by the nature of Osprey breeding strategy. The wonderful things about these nest cameras also sometimes yield the difficult things for us to watch. As you might know, we actually post a “siblicide alert” on some of our cams where we suspect the possibility exists.

I’m copying your note to Charles Eldermire, project leader for our Bird Cams. He may have some additional comments, and he would be the one to ask if we might be able to use your stored files for biological analysis.

It’s also important to acknowledge that intervening can also cause problems of its own—depending on the ages of the birds in the nest, disturbing them can trigger an early fledge. We have restricted the scenarios in which we would even consider intervening to injuries or dangers that are explicitly human-derived. For example, 3 or 4 years ago we were alerted by viewers that one of the osprey chicks at the Hellgate Osprey nest was entangled in monofilament line. We consulted with our partners there (wildlife biologists, raptor researchers, raptor rehabbers) to determine if the monofilament was an issue, and if intervening was both likely to solve the issue AND not have bad effects on the other nestlings. In the end, a quick trip to the nest was scheduled via a bucket truck, the monofilament was removed, and the nestlings all eventually fledged. In that case, all of the permits were already in hand to be studying the ospreys, and we had already discussed how to approach issues in the nest.

I’ve been to your site—great cam! And I noticed the runt in the nest. This is just normal Osprey reproduction. It happens all the time and you should not intervene. It’s tough to watch, but it’s how nature works. Ospreys almost always lay 3 eggs and on average fledge between 1 and 1.5 young each year. They stagger the hatch so there is a spread of ages in the young. That way, if food is short, the first-hatched (and therefore largest) will get enough food to survive while the smaller nest mates do not. If all three young were the same size and there was only enough food for 1 young, none of the young would get enough food and they would all die. If there’s lots of food, the smallest will eventually get fed and can survive. These nest cams can show some gut-wrenching scenes. The most infamous perhaps was one of the very first Osprey cams (on Long Island somewhere), where the smallest young died. One of the adults carried it out of the nest and after several minutes flew back into the nest and fed it to the other young. Waste-not-want-not at its goriest. At Hog Island up in Maine just last week a Bald Eagle came in and took the young out of the nest. Last year at another nest, cameras documented a Great-horned Owl taking young Ospreys out of a nest in NJ or MD. All of these things have been going on for millions of years and Ospreys are doing fine.

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As much as I have enjoyed watching, after this mornings feeding I’m not sure how much more I can take. It breaks my heart to see the little one get beat up, pooped on and get very little food. I keep telling myself to put the video down and let nature happen. Thank you Paul for providing all of us with this wonderful video of real nature up close and too personal. I’m sure I’ll be back…

Yes, it is getting more difficult to watch now. The biggest one is really pecking at the RUNT today and trying to take bites out of him. Sad to see, but a fact of life according to Darwin. Survival of the fittest doesn’t seem fair to we human beings.

I can’t watch anymore. I thought survival of the fittest was up to the parents, and didn’t know it would be the siblings. The baby will get weaker and not be able to fight back if they don’t let her eat.
I was all for nature of things, but now I just want to get the baby out of there under the premise that the species was “endangered” and if allowed to eat and grow and catch up in development it will be just fine.

I am feeling the same way. The big babies are becoming increasingly violent and won’t let him get any food…even when they have had their fill. I don’t think they’re going to let him live. It’s getting harder and harder to watch.

I agree that the mesh has to go but I’m not so sure George or Gracie would allow anyone to get close enough to actually remove it. Has anyone ever seen an instance where a chick was tangled and then removed? What did the parents do? If someone is sent to remove the mesh, I hope they wear protective gear because I sure wouldn’t want to mess with George or Gracie. I just hope the wind takes it! 🙂

Thanks for all the constructive information, we are reaching out to several possibilities for removal of mesh. I think that everyone is on the same page about removal but it doesn’t seem clear to some how challenging that might be. The nest is about 90 feet up in the air on an old TV antenna which sways a little in the wind (see pictures under the highlights section). We considered sending a willing young man up there this afternoon but decided that it was way to dangerous. It’s a long reach from the highest step to the camera. Both parents were watching us “like Hawks” and the likely hood of opposition to approach was a real concern, especially at 90 feet! In addition the tower is on a very small road with lot’s of big trees and over-hanging branches that will limit the size of equipment which can be brought in.

George and Gracie know what they’re doing. They’ve now brought in a piece of burlap. Gracie knows her body will soon not be big enough to protect her chicks from the elements and from predators. I’ve seen both parents cover the babies with this cloth. Nature is wonderful. Great website. Thanks for sharing it with us.

There are lots of instances where wildlife officials go to osprey nests and put things in or take them out … Including banding all the chicks (taking them out, banding them, returning them). This seems to be done with NO serious consequences. I’m certain there are ways to do it successfully, precautions to take, and things not to do … But you just need to talk to the folks who do it all the time.

The net needs to go……You could ask the fire dept but you really need help and advice from a raptor biologist…..US Fish and Wildlife in your area could give you some assistance or direction in how best to get that net removed…..The Chesapeake Conservancy had a problem with an osprey with his talons caught in a net in a nest, and they climbed up it and helped untangle the bird….he never left the nest even after freed! I did see Gracie pick at it and carefully tug at it and move I off to the side so it’s not an immediate danger to them….Hope all works out for this osprey family!

I’m thrilled that the little chick was able to get away from that mesh and you’re considering the removal of the mesh. Does the tree cutting company not have the trucks with the bucket attached to an arm. I believe they’re called boom trucks. Would this make removing the mesh a lot easier and less dangerous. I’ve seen pictures of this in Montana when they rescued a few osprey tangled in mesh?

The popularity of this website is increasing exponentially. It’s no small wonder that for many of us this is the first time viewing the wildlife of earth living their lives and having offspring in real-time. For me, it’s been a life-changing experience. I only need to click here and listen and watch and I feel more inner peace than ever watching mainstream TV. The bandwidth usage much be approaching maximum capacity as the video feed is experiencing ongoing delays tonight. So, to our kind owners of the site, and for all they have done to enable us to view these amazing activities, I want to make sure they know we have their backs. To ensure all those now viewing around the world can see without delay or interruption, it is important to purchase and enable more bandwidth to accommodate the increasing volume. I am sure many of the viewers, me included would be happy to contribute funding to that cause.

Appreciate the sentiment, we are having some technical difficulties right now which are un-defined. We have structured our system to be scaleable and should be able to handle thousands of simultaneous users. The cable company is coming today and hopefully we can resolve. The other day we had over 500 concurrent users with no problem. We started seeing slight issues around 3:00 yesterday afternoon and the problem has been escalating ever since. Now it’s intermittently slowing down, seems better now. Let’s cross our fingers. Maybe Cablevision reset something?

Paul

Addendum: Cablevision came and now I have super bandwidth, whatever they did worked great. Thanks!

I am thankful the little one is now out from under the netting! One question: why is Gracie flapping her wings up and down, as if she’s upset about something. Is something wrong? After seeing the previous post about the baby birds being taken from the nest, I’m worried the other bird I’ve seen flying around may be a bird looking at picking up Gracie’s babies.

We’re all very grateful that things worked out. We would love to remove the mesh, however the tower is 85 feet above the ground which makes access very difficult. Please see the picture of tower in the highlights section. I went down with a local tree climber and we contemplated him climbing the tower but we both agreed that it was just too dangerous with the likelihood of mom and dad wanting to protect their young. They were agitated by our mere presence under the tower.

This is nature we’re watching, so no helicopter-parenting allowed.
……and besides, that material is not the real danger…its the two siblings. Just go back and watch the last feeding. Sorry to say it, but I doubt the last hatchling will last more than a few days as food becomes more of a priority.
Will be sad, but that is how nature is.

One of the beauty of these cams is that while we can’t save every nest and every osprey, we can do something about the nests we have set cams up on…..It’s not a part of nature for a net or material that humans carelessly discarded be a threat to our wildlife….This will help educate some as to why it is so important NOT to carelessly discard your trash…Since this is a nest with a monitored cam, Fish and Wildlife in your area(I am from Md Eastern Shore area) should be called and get their advice on what to do about the net; also the siblings may be attacking the runt more since that net is in the nest….it’s strange to them and very unsettling, even to Gracie…..Just a thought…….Let’s all hope and pray for a positive outcome!

I read that post right here from the guy who goes by the name Paul and has his pic for his avatar.
I do hope its true and someone is serious going to remove that net before something awful happens.I hope its soon!!

I was just looking at another Osprey site on Audubon, where an awful fact of nature occurred. The two parents also laid three eggs about the same time as George and Gracie. Only two of the eggs hatched however, but both chicks were doing marvelously. Just minutes ago, the mother left the nest and moments later a large raptor of some sort, possibly an Eagle swept down and snatched one of the two chicks. If you go to the site it’s still possible to scroll back to see it.

I’m happy to see George bringing more sticks! He’s making the sides higher so the chicks won’t stumble over the edge. This whole experience is captivating a whole lot of my day internet viewing..Lol! Love it!

I have been watching George and gracie since day one it,s amazing to see up close what we think goes on with these beautiful birds to be able to see the young hatch and be fed .I just want to say thank you to everyone who made this possible and god bless

RS that’s exactly right. The father usually eats the head before leaving the rest to the family. Apparently it’s very high in protein compared to the rest of the fish, which is important for him as he’s got to be able to continuously fish for his family.

The little RUNT is doing a better job at getting to the food, but his siblings beaks are twice the size of his head. So, when a food battle ensues, he’s quickly shut out when they bite his entire head forcing him to the mat.

1:23PM and George flies in with a huge branch. One baby is nearly ‘stuck’ between the branch and the nest. But then George and Gracie work together to move it about and stick it into place. Great teamwork. Amazing to watch the growth of both parents and babies (who, by the way, seem to double in size overnight every night).

Saw that too! When he set the branch down, it wasn’t just a single straight shaft, but there was a crooked ‘branch’ in the branch. And, as you mentioned, one of the older chicks was pinned between it and the edge of the nest. Any extra push or shift in the wrong direction could have pushed the chick right over the edge. But, George and Gracie teamed up, with one on the left and the other on the right. They both lifted it together very carefully and set it where it appears now; on the edge closest the water. Quite an amazing feat of cooperation.

I am so glad to see the whole family together. George is helping Gracie to feed the kids. How sweet! I wish George would pick up the net and take it away from the nest so no one gets tangled in it. I get nervous when I see the kids get too close to the edge . The kids are really growing. Even PeeWee looks a little larger and is more active, evening though a lighter color than the siblings.

The little one’s eyes are beginning to open wider and look more clear. He moved very close to the camera a few minutes ago and got a good look at them. Today has been his best day thus far. The first couple of days after birth he got very little food, which affected his growth and strength. He’s also getting a little darker and fattening up in the rump.

fish delivery at 10:29. The middle chick (in the foreground) seems to be sleeping through the entire feeding. Little one asserted itself admirably although was pinned down by the bigger one for a while.

One of the little ones has been mimicking his mother by picking up pieces of nesting material and moving them about. Also actually picked up a few pieces of dropped food during feedings. This is the first this behavior has appeared in the nest and the first sign of self feeding.

Notice how Gracie and George built up the sides of the nest since the little guys are moving around and sometimes getting closer to the edge.
Mother nature is just so awesome. Thank you for letting me see it this close. I’m obsessed now checking in constanly. lol

Thinking about the severe windy storm that these ospreys endured a few days ago. Great job to the guys who built the platform for them. It is obviously a vey sturdy base and the railings helped secure the base of the nest. The rest is kudos to the osprey. Mother nature taught them well in building a safe nest. 🙂

I think the little one is a female with a small frame and does not require as much food as her siblings. Even humans with large families will have a “thin one” among the hefty. It’a all about the genes.

FYI, as with some other bird species, female osprey are larger than male osprey, though I’m not sure how much difference there is in boning. The little one is lagging. You can see the feather development is more than 3 days behind. If the baby gets enough food going forward, it will be fine. That depends on there being enough food brought to the nest. It is difficult to raise 3 osprey. The pair in Maine, Steve & Rachel, have done it twice. This year they only have two eggs that hatched. They are a few days older than these and the male is already bringing 9 fish a day to the nest. Last year, with three babies, he brought as many as 14. All 3 were always well fed, but it was very hard work … by a more experienced pair. There should be enough fish available here, but George has to be a good fisher and know he needs to get a lot of fish. Early on, he did not seem to bring enough fish (based on how often I saw Gracie yelling for food). Things seem much better in recent days.

I’ve seen George bring as many as 5-6 fish in one day, 9-5 and I don’t even tune in that early. In other instances, with other osprey couples, I’ve seen both parents fish when the pips were really big.

As I said, he has been doing better lately and the chicks have been better fed … Crops fuller, in food comas, not calling for food as earlier. Do hope he can being enough, but he’ll need to bring a lot more if all three are to survive … And he really might. It doesn’t really matter if the male does the fishing alone or they both do it … Either way, one needs to stay to guard the nest at all times.

With Osprey, the female is the larger. See the information contained in the following link, which provides more information than most care to know…

🙂

[QUOTE]
DISCUSSION

Our results indicate significant sexual size dimorphism in young Ospreys, with males smaller than females. Therefore, sexes may be separated by means of external morphometric measurements in an easy and reliable way

Good morning all!!! Looks like Mama is feeding breakfast! Pee Wee is getting his fair share this morning!! Does anyone know why the camera looks foggy this morning?? Maybe something on the lens? I hope everyone enjoys “my” birds as much as I do!! 🙂

It’s one thing to sit here and watch a chick die of starvation because the adults are new parents. It’s another thing to see a chick entangled in netting. Dr. Greene in Montana travels to different sites, (not on camera) and frees osprey entangled in mesh used for hay. There has been a lot of money used to set up this camera, I can’t imagine the sponsors sitting here and letting a chick die in front of our eyes because of some net in the nest. I am disappointed that our enquiries have not been answered?

I’m sorry but I just don’t see anyone entangled at the moment. Everyone is eating and there is no unusual excitement in the nest. We are monitoring the situation and we definitely care. We have seen several attempts to move the mesh towards the edge of the nest and hopefully out of the nest. We would be happy to consult any “experts” in the field, so please feel free to suggest any and put us in contact. Let’s stay calm for the moment. By the way, we think it’s a piece of a burlap bag.

Thank you for your reply. I’m glad the situation is being monitored. Hopefully, they will remove it before it becomes an issue.
I believe another viewer forwarded you contact information should you require it.
Thanks again.

Gracie looks comfortable. However, there is a thunderstorm in Washington DC right now. I hope it doen’t come where the ospreys are. It does sound windy right now, but Gracie does not look affected by the wind very much. I don’t currently see any lightning.

I cannot speak on behalf of the site, but it makes sense to me that an intervention would be considered if a seemingly life or death situation arises, otherwise, why intervene? This is all but one osprey nest. What about all the other nests that don’t have cameras? Let this be a lesson to us all. The best thing we can do to prevent wildlife injury and death from plastics and pollution is to be more conscientious in our decisions as consumers, more responsible in our habits of disposing waste, and apply pressure to manufacturers to use sustainable materials.

Sheryl I could not agree with you more. The real hazard to wildlife is humans. I’m from a small town in Western Mass and we are “strongly” encouraged to recycle everything – and I mean everything. From bottles, cans and paper to furniture and household items to yard clippings and debris. If everyone could at least try to leave less of a footprint it would be great.

That netting in the nest is going to give me a heart attack! I wish it would blow out of the nest and someone would dispose of it properly. All sorts of birds and wildlife get entangled in marine debris and die. I am afraid for our babies.

Gracie has been trying to remove the net this morning! She has managed to get it off to the side somewhat….Hooefully, she or George can push it out today! Our cam at the Bay Bridge run by the ,Chesapeake Conservancy, did help an osprey tangled in a net in the nest before….Is there a raptor biologist or bird rescue group in your area? Perhaps they could watch and help if needed;.

During the last few days the ‘RUNT’ is obviously lagging behind his fellow siblings in strength and growth. When Mom (Gracie) attempts to feed the ‘RUNT’, she tears off a small piece and then offers it to him to take. However, he is far less assertive in taking it, and often it falls from his mouth, or he just doesn’t grab it from her mouth as the other two do. The two older siblings are quite aggressive now when Gracie has a piece of food, and there is not hesitation for them to extend their necks and reach for it and take it without a hitch. He’s going to have to step up his game.

Just now, Dad (George) was in the nest when Gracie was feeding. For several seconds he had the burlap netting in his beak and seemed to be attempting to pull it over the little ‘RUNT’. Thankfully, he gave up and left.

I’ve seen that at some feedings, but not at all at others. The little one is fed somewhat smaller bites, but that is necessary. If there are big fish, the baby gets fed well, if there is not enough, he gets less …. Unless there was a fish not long before and the big guys are sated. If there are enough fish, he will survive.

Unless food is really abundant, parents will feed the stronger offspring first. That ensures at least some will survive, which wouldn’t be as likely if they spread limited food out evenly.

Given that these are first time parents, they may not be as good at getting enough food. But they seem fine in terms of their nest behavior and treatment of the nestlings. They’ll need to increase the food a lot over the next two weeks or the little one probably won’t make it. Have to say that George has brought them some nice big fish in tne last couple of days. That is very encouraging.

Babies have just been fed and it was great to see Spunky front and center holding its own. At least until the big ones decided to sit on him and hold him down. But everyone seems to have gotten enough to eat.

Of course you can’t clean the nest for them,hopefully mother nature will. They are trying their best,great parents! Just got over watching Duke farms eagles from eggs to fledgling,so I have new babies to have heart attacks over. Thanks Tommy and all!

Been out all day so I scrolled back the video to see what I missed. The family dynamics of these birds is amazing. George brought a headless fish But Gracie kinda ignored him. So he walked it over to her. The I saw the little chick pecking away at the bigger chicks. and stepped right up to be the first fed.

Where can I find the video of the storm or isn’t it out yet? I love this site and so happy to have found it..I’ve been an avid bald eagle watcher from the Pittsburgh area and this year wasn’t good for our eagles, the eggs weren’t viable…So, this is where I get my “fix”…Sure am rooting for little “Runt”…We had this same thing in our eagle nest last year but our “runt” proved to be a fighter and a great survivor….Hoping and praying all goes well with the baby…..Thanks again for making this all possible…..

Dorothy, I watched the eaglets in the Hanover, PA nest from the time they hatched until almost leaving the nest. There were two of them and it was amazing. However, one decided to sit on top of the camera when it started to fly from branch to branch and tilted it downward.

Jo, I also watched that nest until the camera got so splattered it was hard to see, lol…The Hays nest is the one I’m closest to, but also got addicted to the nest in Ft. Myers with Ozzie and Harriet….Nature really does know how to put on a show….Much better than anything on TV…..

So good to see Little Bit has a full crop. That’s burlap in the nest; likely from a nearby nursery, and the flattened black tubing is drip tape from a farm or nursery. It is laid along side the crop and drips water to an individual plant. Saves a lot of water.

OH! The wonder of it all! Nature at it’s bestest! Daddy George is trying to mat down the netting, looks at Gracie flying off, you can practically here the parents conversations!Truly blessed to be able to experience this site…Many, many thanks!!!

These can’t be their birth dates. I have been wondering when there were hatched since I only started watching last week. I am totally loving this opportunity and watch as much as I can during the day. I am cheering for the runt also!

Thanks for this web cam allowing us to view the lives of these wonderful raptors. I am very concerned about the netting in the nest which is a terribly hazard for both the chicks and George and Gracie. I hope there are plans to remove it as soon as possible. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

There have been many documented cases where humans have gone up to Osprey Nests to band the chicks (in some cases taking the chicks from the nest to band on the
ground), remove fishing line that was wrapped around the chick, or fish hook embedded in the chick, or remove other human related causes to the nest. Mom and Dad will leave the nest, fly around it and return as soon as the “intruders” are gone. I don’t know the logistics of this nest but there are cherry pickers that may have the height to get to the nest.

I see many comments saying that ‘baby’ is being adequately fed……..but each time I take a look baby’ appears to either being ignored or bullied – sat on by her older siblings’
It’s 1:40 pm on Thursday, June 25 and I have a clear perspective of the three being fed………and looking at baby, side by side to her siblings, she appears to be a ‘runt’ when in fact they are only a couple of (birthdays days) apart.

I’ve been reading that survival rates of Osprey brood are well-documented. The first to hatch has the greatest chance of survival to fledgling stage. The second to hatch survival rate in the 80-percentile range. For the third to hatch the survival to fledgling stage dips sharply into the 30-percentile range. Survivals are dominated by food stress, with the biggest problems evolving between two and three weeks of hatching.

Looks like the kids have settled down for awhile. They appeared to be quite active this morning. I am concerned that they are so close to the edge of the nest. But Gracie looks as if she has everything under control.

It’s lunchtime and the babies seem to be more interested in their surrounding than in eating. Gigi is so close to the edge! She’s making me very nervous. Rocky and Izzy are eating well and even Rocky seems more into looking around than eating. I just wish Gracie could scoot them back a little bit. 🙂

As one of the first commentators on this osprey website, I am delighted about its rapid growth in such a short time. In today’s chaotic and confusing world, this site offers pure,innocent and educational entertainment for all. I now feel that not only am I a member of the George and Gracie Osprey Family, but ALL OF YOU are my family in this endeavor. We all sheer the joy, concern and suspense of our Family of Five whether it was concern and then relief that they survived the Tuesday night wind and rain storm or watching Gracie feed the babies a number of times a day.
Gracie and George are wonderful parents, especially for first timers. #1,Ronnie is big and strong and tries to dominate the other two, but when Daddy George is around, he/she cowers. #2,Minnie tries to be a good sibling to the other two and is the most patient and thoughtful of the three. #3,Pee Wee,being the smallest, has developed the skill of pushing back when necessary and using his/her smallness to his advantage when he can.
There was a moment at 5:50 p.m. this past Tuesday,just prior to the storm, which warmed my heart to the core. The babies were asleep under Gracie so she and George shared a few moments of affection together. George teased Gracie in a loving way and then held his beak on hers(like a smooch) for a few seconds. IT WAS PRICELESS!!!

There is black mesh in the nest and the youngest got tangled and then untangled. It is right in the middle. Any chance of it being removed by a kind human. Thanks. Very dangerous for the chicks. Ospreys are notorious for bringing in the wrong kind of stuff.

“Entanglement Hazards
Osprey will grab manmade objects floating in the water including trash, nets, and fishing monofilament. These objects can become hazardous to the adults and young. If you suspect an osprey has become entangled, contact your state or provincial wildlife agency office for assistance.”

Someone brought home a piece of netting earlier and I spent anxious minutes watching as the little guy got caught up in it. The baby was on it’s back panting, flailing around and crying and you could see it’s little heart beating fast. Mom was busy watching the other two who were at the bottom edge of the screen pecking at each other. I thought the little one was a gonner, but that spunky little bird wiggled and kicked and twisted around until it got loose. It literally ran over to Mom and hugged her leg. Mom nuzzled it for a few minutes and it went to join it other two. Go baby.

Good morning! It is so amazing that when Gracie calls for George, he responds by arriving with a fish for everyone to eat. I love this site, and am so glad I found it. The babies look like they are getting a little larger. Gracie has her hands full.

aww, so cool. Gracie reaching out to make sure her babies eat, especially the Peanut. I noticed George doing a fly-by. Looks like he’s going fishing in the bay. I love this site. I have my coffee and watch and I am automatically in “calm ” mode. Thank you so much for setting all this up.

I read about this site in Newsday this morning. So thankful two buddies put this together and we get to watch. Wow! I will check in daily to see if little Pip makes it — hoping so. When the time comes I hope to see them learn to fly too. Again — big thanks.

I have worked with banding bald eagles in the past with US Fish and Wildlife Service in Utah. We used a crane to get into the nest to band the nestlings. Someone needs to get up to the nest and get the net out before one of the adults or the nestlings gets tangled up in it. I just saw the female trying to get it out with no success but it worries me that her talons will eventually get tangled. Someone going into the nest at this stage of development of the chicks will not cause the nest to be abandoned by the adults. They are not going to like it and will dive on the “invader”, but as soon as the person leaves all will return to normal. Check it out with bird experts in NY, but this is my recommendation

From Phoenix, Arizona, I and several others thank you for giving us something to do while we endure our 113 degree summer days. This site has a cooling effect and we are all pulling for the little one!

Found this today thanks to Newsday’s article. I have been following an Audubon live camera on an osprey nest at Hog Island, Bremen, ME. The pair there – Rachel & Steve – had 3 eggs, 2 hatched. They look a bit bigger than the LI babes. You can follow on I will surely be checking in every day. THANKS

Thank you so much for setting up this camera. My family lives up the street from this beach. It’s so great that my kids can see the nest from the beach and then go home and see what’s happening live on the camera. My parents were told about this site tonight at a community meeting and called us right away! My kids are loving it, so am I! The information about the ospreys history is fascinating and remarkable. Thanks for sharing!

Hello! Thank you for this webcam! When will you be removing the netting that’s been brought to the nest? One of the babies has already been caught up in it & it can lead to a life-threatening situation… Hopefully the local F&W are preparing to remove that debris?? Thanks!

Gracie looks like she is uncomfortable, possibly because babies are getting larger and/or are moving around. I am so glad I found this site. I live in Sarasota, FL and have not found a good site like this one. I hope the family gets some sleep tonight.

That’s a lotta gnats flying around that nest. They are much easier to see this time of day when the sun in shining on them. There is a big attraction for the bugs considering the fish, seaweed, and other smells and sundries. It doesn’t seem to be affecting the birds at all. You never seem the shake when the bugs are flying about, or do anything noticeably visual to show they are being annoyed.

This is definitely the comments’ section. Our software is supposed to allow users to comment directly after they have been approved once, just doesn’t seem to work. However good this would be for filtering out spam it still might not prevent some of the un-publishable comments that we have received which need to be moderated. Unfortunately we can’t monitor 24/7, so for the time being there will have to be delays between comments and publishing. I’m looking into better ways to manage comments, please stand by.

Yes, agree. If there is a way to still capture the video beginning just before the storm and until the video crashed, and then followed by when it was finally restored. That would be an excellent clip for everyone’s library.

Wow, just look at them now..Bellies full, Gracie & George will have to work on building up the nest sides, I think, as they are getting larger and more activeMy heart was in my throat a few times today, watching the babes wandering towards the edges. This site should win an academy award!! Thank you, thank you!

so glad all came through the storm. I see both mom and dad bring in nesting material to reinforce the nest. With the little ones getting more active, I’m glad to see this. This puts ‘reality’ TV to shame! I find it amazing how invested I am in this and I see comments from others and can see that they are just as invested. I’m so honored to be allowed to experience this! Thank you for sharing.

I was almost afraid to pull up the site….but I had to know. So happy to see all is well. I noticed that the bigger one was picking on the little guy…I hope it was just playing. Thanks for the updates. I hope there aren’t any more nasty storms for awhile. Love this..so fascinating to watch. And nerve wrecking…LOL <3

Glad to see all babies and Gracie are fed and settled in. Just before the feeding one of the larger chicks was chipping away at the other two chicks until they turned away and buried their little heads in defeat.. Then when the large fish was brought to the nest Gracie fed them and all is well.

I was so afraid this morning checking my emails regrading the storm and the welfare of my favorite family! I am soo relieved and happy to see that everyone is doing just fine. And it’s breakfast time and everyone is having FISH! I love this live feed – Thank you so much for providing this wonderful experience. ALL the way from Houston, TX!

yes I saw that too. Its a learning curve the others will know not to mess with him. But I have seen on other nests in other years of viewing the youngest smallest chick become the dominant. It is so interesting to watch these birds in the nest.

Very concerned about family, have been trying to get on website to find out results of storm and am unable to obtain, wants me to sign in and when I try doing this it says that it is not my password. PLEASE, someone update if the birds are OK and if so how do I get back into website (hopefully website is still having problems from storm and it’s not me

Thank you Paul for all your hard work in creating this opportunity to create a place for these two Osprey to make a nest, and then to share it with the world. My wife is currently in China, where the government blocks YouTube. So, last weekend, I called her on Skype video and put two monitors together so that a large group of young Chinese children watched for over thirty minutes as Gracie (also my wife’s name) fed her three babies with a freshly caught fish. Fish is a staple of diet in China, so they are even more impressed to see a bird that can catch and eat it. They all ooooed, and awwwed, as they have never seen anything like this before. We are all very grateful and appreciative. JB

I just noticed all the posts this morning about the storm last night. It appears someone with administrative privileges just made the video private, so even if it was working, the public feed on this site would not be available. Perhaps someone can fly a small drone with a video cam above the site to get a get a visual. It would be very sad indeed if the young were lost. I have been watching them every day since the beginning.

I hope and pray that the birds are ok. I named them Jeremiah, Tinkerbell and PeeWee. I love them and pray that they are ok. I saw Gracie hovered over the babies during the first of the storm, and then the nest was lifting with some branches falling out. Then the camera went out. I am very concerned about them.

Hello, I was watching the nest during the storm and could see the wind lifting the nest and the sticks blowing away now I can’t get the cam to load, is it broken do you know. Is the nest Gracie and the chick all ok ? Please let me know ASAP, I am terribly worried about all of them. Thank You

Just got back from a visual inspection of the nest and things looked ok from the ground although it’s impossible to see into the nest right now, the power is out on the street feeding our equipment. Supposedly the power will be back on sometime tonight and let’s hope that everyone is alright and that our equipment has survived a very strong blow and rain storm.

Thank you so much for checking. I was so worried ?. Those were some storms (while I love them) It seems the wind was intense there. I’m sure Momma did a great job protecting her babies. Thank you again. And thank you for making watching this awesome Osprey family possible

Praying the Osprey family are all ok. I was watching before the camera went off ? The camera is still down and I wont be able to sleep until I can see that they made it through that storm…Im sure they are all ok and just drying out. Hope the cameras come back on asap

I am very worried about George and Gracie’s babies, because of the wind blowing the nest. Poor Gracie is hunkered down over the babies, but the nest is blowing up a bit and it’s making me so concerned. I can’t access the feed and I’m still very worried about the beautiful family. Please post something if you can get the live feed.

A terrible storm is going on at 8pm. The nest was rocking and I saw the left side lift up. Sticks were blowing out, too. I hope they survive. I am really scared for them and now the cam has gone out. Please keep them safe.

Brenda (name my friends and I gave her #3 cause she is small and non agressive, we feel she’s definitely female), anyway was fed guite well before those two woke up. Also notice Gracie sometimes waits for those two too go to sleep and then will feed Brenda. SHE WILL SURIVE

Does anyone feel that the ‘little one’ might have a visual or hearing problem ? It seems to me that he/she is not aware that the the older two are being fed. Right now, Mom is feeding the two older ones and ‘baby’ is looking in the opposite direction, unaware that lunch is being served.

Tommy, I think I can speak for everyone viewing this site by acknowledging the skill and effort it took to mount a platform and video camera on top of this 80 foot tower. We appreciate what you have done and are really enjoying the results.

2:30: At some point Gracie ended up with two fish in the nest. The little guy waited patiently off to the side while the 2 big ones were fed. When they fell asleep, Gracie took her time feeding the little one. Now they are all cuddled together. Wicked storm on the way, so I hope they can all hold on tight.

It’s lunchtime! All 3 babies are currently eating and Rocky is definitely getting his share.
Now, if the wind would calm down and Gracie would keep those chicks away from the edge, I’d have a pretty anxious free day. 🙂

It’s 12:00PM Central time, 1:00PM Eastern. Right now mom has a whole fish. All three chicks are lined up facing mom with the fish. Today, the little chick is in the middle, and starting to fight back at his siblings. It’s great to see him toughen up and getting stronger.

I am in the lucky position of being a few hundred feet from the nest. I can see the nest from afar then zoom in with the webcam on the computer. An extraordinary experience to follow these birds. It can get rather emotional.Let me reassure you that I see the osprey fishing over the bay, not an easy task but they seem to be successful catching bluefish and porgies. Looks like they are getting enough food but I’m not an expert, yet…..

Luckily, there was another fish this morning and the little one was out front and got fed. As long as the baby opens its mouth, mom will feed him … but when he sleeps through feedings or doesn’t get out from under or faces the wrong way, she’s not going to feed him.

So nice that there was really a big fish this afternoon and they all got fed as much as they could before food coma set in. On other nests I’ve seen, they’re getting 7 or more fish a day at this point, for 2 babies … and it goes up from here … so there seems to be not so many feedings at this nest … unless I’m missing most of them. That’ll be fine, if the fish are really big!!

Wow!!! George brought home a whole big fish for Gracie & the kids today!! I am glad because I was getting worried when I didn’t see Gracie feeding the little ones any fish. I guess I just missed it in yesterday’s video. You’re a good husband/father, George.

Very disturbing to hear the mom continually yelling for food … and the dad showing up with nothing. Even scrolling back, I can’t seem to locate many feedings. I wish I knew how many fish they were getting; it does not seem like he is bringing enough. If there isn’t enough food, she will feed the strongest to ensure that some survive. Since they are, it seems, new parents, they may not do well with this first try.

Such a contrast from last night to tonight. Last night gale force winds. Gracie could barely stay in nest; she was so flattened out protecting her birds…her little head facing the wind. Tonight water as calm as glass, and just gentle breezes. Amazing.

Little baby #3 is going to be fine. This morning, it moved in front of the other 2 to get some fish & got a lot of fish from mom. George brought home a whole fish for mom & babies, & he didn’t eat any of it—-it was all for them. I was concerned about the little one a few days ago too, but now it seems to be stronger & getting bigger & can move in front of the other 2 to get some fish from mom. The 2 bigger ones don’t seem to be bullying the little one as much anymore either. They’re all going to be fine.

Do I see a new addition to the nest? A big piece of squiggly seaweed? I noticed the new scallop shell yesterday, too. How wonderful of George & Gracie to provide such a nice “home” for their babes to grow up in. It’s amazing how quickly they grow & get their feathers.

Good afternoon. I am new here. Which is the mom of the two? Do the mom and dad take turns feeding? If the smallest chick dies, will mom have another or is she done for the season? Is this a reasonable amount of chicks or is it heavy/light compared to average? What is the water in the distance? How old before the chicks start to fly? Do Ospreys mate for life?

Hi Becky, thanks for the questions! The mom is a little larger than the dad, and spends most of the time in the nest. She seems to do most of the feeding. They will not have any more chicks this season, and three chicks is fairly common for ospreys. They will start flying 7-8 weeks from hatching, so maybe at the beginning of August. Ospreys usually mate for life.

I have to post again! so at 5:15 dad comes home with no dinner! gracie is not happy! babies are up looking for food. George leaves and comes back 20 minutes later with a fish for dinner! Good Job Dad! So

Today #3 is one week old! Its amazing how much they have grown over the last week. It has been fun to check in and watch the feedings. It looks like all 3 are flourishing and are going to be ok, even little #3 is eating well. Too bad he is 1/2 the size as the other 2.

hopefully the smallest will survive but unfortunately as with many raptors, although i am not sure about Ospreys, many times only the largest two will survive and the smallest will starve to death because the larger ones will take all the food or be pushed out of the nest. mother nature can be cruel and hopefully this time all will survive.

thank God Gracie has decided #3(which we call Brenda) is a girl and needs a little more attention, fed her real well today and only hope her strength grows. Love watching these amazing birds. #1 and #2 are not to nice to Brenda but she is beginning to fight back a little and if Gracie keeps feeding her she is gonna whip some butt after the abuse she has taken.

The little one has gotten feisty and tougher. The bigger ones do not mess around when Daddy George is in the nest. Let’s call the little one, Pee Wee, after the Mickey Rooney character in “Boys Town”. In the movie, Pee Wee was,at first, picked-on by the other boys,but over time became everyone’s favorite.

Baby #3, who I have named Rocky, was front and center this morning at feeding time and ate very well. He appears to be getting stronger and I think I even saw him nibble back at baby 1, who I named Gigi, when she tried to take a bit of the offered food. WTG, Rocky. Fight on!!

the little one, the runt, didn’t seem to get any food at this evening feeding …. I’m rooting for him … but sadly I don’t think he is going to make it. Too bad the parents, with any bird, feed them most attentive ones who are screaming for food … but I’m still rooting for the little one ….